Let’s examine the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. Many in our modern day have come out of churches, seeking more truth. In their searching, they turn to follow brother Judah (aka the Jews). Initially, awakening believers generally begin separation from doing things christian ways by keeping sabbath as Judah does. However, historical evidence shows since about the 300’s the Jews do not regard the calendar explained in the Hebrew Scriptures, the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. Nevertheless, this seems t be the process, initially, of differentiating away from the christian church on a path to a closer walk with the Father.
Another thing awakening believers (called by the Father) do is abandon their former understanding of the day beginning at midnight, which Gentiles keeping the Gregorian calendar have formerly learned in their education. Instead, they follow the Jews, thinking they must have this right. Nevertheless, the Jews’ misunderstanding that the day begins at darkness, the end of light, is also not scriptural. I suspect the Jews may have picked this up from Babylon.
I will leave a link at the bottom of this post for you to research this.
We must separate from nonscriptural traditions and erroneous teachings of all men and organizations. There are a lot of them in organized religions all over this Earth.
Here and now, we are examining the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. And, this requires study time.
YaHuWaH’s Word reveals His calendar, the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. For certain, we know the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept pleased the Father, and it was also the calendar the Jews kept during the first century of the common era (c.e.).
The renewed covenant (aka, ‘the new testament’) reveals the Messiah was not fond of the way some Jews did a lot of things. They wrote their own laws, decided their oral laws were superior to YaHuWaH’s written laws, and then chose to enforce obedience of man’s laws over YaHuWaH’s commandments. (Now that I think about it…. it sounds a whole lot like how the Gentiles live, actually, overriding YaHuWaH’s Word with the words of a man and words of other men. I think we have about arrived where the Jews were when Yahushua came, the first time… putting our own manmade rules over what YaHuWaH ALoHA’s Word says.)
If you have not seen the powerful video series, “They Have Despised My Name,” I invite you to see it. It’s life changing. It’s about the very time when the Messiah was on the Earth, walking among the people, and addressing the error in the way of the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. Here’s a link to They Have Despised My Name:
Nevertheless, we have no reason from scriptures to believe the Messiah was against the calendar Judah was keeping. Therefore the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept must have been the same calendar the Jews kept, at that time.
Before we get started, I want to share some significant scriptures with you in some images. I think these will help us see why we are here looking at this.
I found a pdf of notes, which Troy Miller, at http://creationcalendar.com, shared on the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. And, I wanted to help him share the information. He has done significant research for years. And, I believe the Father uses Troy Miller to RESTORE His calendar.
Troy’s site is the best site I have found for research on the true calendar of the Creator (the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept), with World’s Last Chance being a close section. (World’s Last Chance has both a website with written information, as well as many videos.) I encourage everyone to go to http://creationcalendar.com, and study. Troy Miller goes beyond just showing you why this is the creation calendar. Troy shares scriptural and historical evidences and testimonies. He also shows you how to defend the calendar against the pagan papal Gregorian calendar in-the-matrix wolves and goats, who will come against you. He will show you how others attack those keeping this calendar and how he came against their flawed arguments. It’s usually the same arguments, over and over, just packaged a little differently. Troy Miller works hard to answer questions such as which calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. His work is shared in pdfs you can download. But, for this one, I am sharing it here, along with some notes of my own, formatting, and images to enrich your journey as we explore the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept, along with the earliest of His followers.
Believers coming out of the christian church experience, and having questions about when the real ShaBaT is, often come up with this question: What was recorded about the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept in the New Testament times?
In this article, Troy answers this question by presenting the evidence we have on what calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.
First, as Troy is sharing much from a lunar calendar study by John D. Keyser, found on the internet, Troy states he does not agree with every conclusion presented. That’s logical. How often do we share a teaching, but we know part of what the person is sharing they just don’t have revelational truth on that subject, yet? Specifically, the error most noteworthy implies that Israel observed their ShaBaTs on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 of each month. This is very, very close to the actual truth. Nevertheless, it is one day off. So, as we can see, John D. Keyser studied and shared what he found or understood (AT THE TIME OF HIS WRITING) to be the case for truth.
The issue, here, we want to look at is the evidence for a solar-lunar calendar and ShaBaT thus determined, not whether it was on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. Those are clearly off by one day, with the ShaBaTs always following new moon day (the day on which the sliver is seen in the evening and then numbered day 1 of the new month, and new moon day) every 7 days from new moon, and then from the former ShaBaT, such that new moon is on day 1, and ShaBaT is seven days later, on day 8. The next ShaBaT is seven days later, on day 15. The next ShaBaT is seven days later, on day 22. Finally, the last ShaBaT is on day 29, just seven days later. The next day will begin the new moon phase. If no one sees a crescent at the end of that day, it becomes numbered day 30. And, the next day automatically becomes day 1, new moon day, of the next month. While I realize that may sound confusing, I assure you it does become easy with time and familiarity, and putting it into practice. If you ever saw the matrix movie, coming out of the matrix was not so comfortable for “Neo Anderson,” nor so populated by others. Only the awake ones were living outside the matrix.
As Troy Miller states in the image below, “Altogether, this is more evidence that we have been lied to. HalleluYah, you have shown your desire to examine this evidence, others apparently like living a lie. Enjoy…” Just by your being here means you are willing to step outside the matrix and examine the evidence of the true calendar, the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.
Troy shares with us this is an excerpt from John D. Keyser’s research, along with some of his thoughts.. Still, other of it is parts I have offered. It’s a collaboration!! I definitely included images and formatting, to help the reader see the importance of this subject, in seeking to understand which calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.
Troy writes: One thing is self-evident — the [carpenter from Nazareth] had absolutely no problem with the day of the week the religious leaders of his day (the Pharisees) were observing the Sabbath on! He had plenty to say about the wall of restrictions and the dos and don’ts surrounding the Pharisees’ concept of the Sabbath, and blasted them for their nit-picking and hypocrisy. But he never once corrected them over the TIMING of the Sabbath. So when were the Pharisees — and the main part of the populace — keeping the Sabbath? And, later, when were the early Christians keeping the Sabbath?
In the article Shawui Sabbath: Ancient Sabbath Observance we find written the following: “Most theologians and some scholars assume that mainstream Jewish society, at the time of [Y’shua]…was practicing a fixed seven-day week which was the same as the modern fixed seven-day week. This is extremely doubtful. There is ample evidence the Jewish society was keeping [and the same calendar Messiah Y’shua kept] was reckoned by the moon.
(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3607/sabat.htm).
“The Nazarene Sabbath was a LUNAR Sabbath observed on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eighth day of THE LUNAR MONTH. (A lunar month starts on the New Moon, [and this count is not starting with the count of new moon day, therefore the technical day position will be one day later, accounting for new moon day]). This was standard practice among the Beni-Aumen Nazarene Order and most of the other orthodox Jewish sects of the time…
This means the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept predated His birth and life. It was an ancient Semitic calendar. This is from Psalm 81.
Here’s another restored name translation:
“It is a mistake to assume the ancient followers of [Y’shua]…kept the modern week consisting of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. THEY DID NOT. Their week was a LUNAR WEEK which started over EACH QUARTER MOON [as was the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept]. Most scholars agree that the modern concept of the week began in the first century and was made popular by Rome …”
At the time of the Messiah the observance of the weekly Sabbath was a national law for those in Judah. “All seven sects, including the Nazarenes and Osseaens, observed it, although NOT ALWAYS ON THE SAME DAY [kind of like you might have noticed with restored lunar-ShaBaT keepers, today… they have some different understandings of what constitutes new moon].. The Ben-Zadok Order appears to have observed the Sabbath on a fixed week irrespective of the lunar cycle, whereas the Beni-Aumen [Nazarenes, those who followed Y’Shua and would have kept the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept] OBSERVED THE SABBATH ACCORDING TO THE LUNAR QUARTERS “ (ibid.).
[Note here, the question is about Gentile Christians. For more on what is a Gentile christian, I found this page helpful: http://www.winternet.com/~swezeyt/bible/origins/jwGn.htm Yet, the earlier followers of Y’shua and His apostles were called Nazarenes, or more accurately Natsarim, which means watchmen and branches.] Early historical records clearly confirm that at a very early date gentile Christians ALSO KEPT THE SAME SABBATH CALENDAR AS THE NAZARENES!
“The Sabbath observed by Yeshua(also called, ‘Jesus’)…. and His family, was on NEITHER A SATURDAY NOR A SUNDAY, and is calculated in a manner all together different than the modern custom of weekday observance…The method of calculating weekdays on Yeshua’s calendar is at variance with the modern fixed week system. According to the…system, each week begins on either THE NEW, FIRST QUARTER, FULL MOON, or LAST QUARTER OF THE MOON.” This is the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.
“After the fourth lunar week of the month ends on the 28th [it’s really on the 29th… Author is not counting the new moon day, which begins the count of days at the beginning of the month]. THE NEXT DAY OR TWO IS A DARK MOON DAY which is not part of any lunar week. [In other words, on the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept, after the last ShaBaT in the month, which occurs on the 29th of the month, the] new week does not begin until the following New Moon occurrence.) This may seem odd to one used to using the modern fixed week, but to the ancients it made perfect sense to pause and prepare themselves before entering and beginning a new month and a new cycle of weeks” (ibid.). This was the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept, with His family, with His disciples, and with the people of the House of Yahudah (Judah). [It’s clear in Scriptures everyone knew when ShaBaT was. There was no discord displayed in the Scriptures about the timing of ShaBaT.]
“The early Christian descriptions of a weekly cycle (containing periodic single days) are VERY CLEAR, and this information (coupled with evidence provided by the measurable lunar/solar phenomena) STRONGLY INDICATES THAT EARLY CHRISTIANS WERE PRACTICING A LUNAR-BASED CALENDAR” (p.42). [This strongly provides evidence the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept was the semitic solar-lunar calendar. The Hebrew scriptures also lay out this calendar. Ps. 104:19 says: He made the moon for appointed times; The sun knows its going down. All of the appointed times are listed in Leviticus 23. And, these begin with the lunar-reckoned ShaBaT, which is the only seventh day ShaBaT that is scriptural. Messiah did not sin. He watched, kept, guarded, observed, and established (aka ‘fulfilled’) YaHuWaH’s commandments, statutes, precepts and judgments perfectly. This is the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept. A serious study of the scriptural calendar will show it.]
“It now seems almost certain that some additional definitions of the early Sabbath Cycle are missing from the modern tradition of the seven-day week. Essentially, the modern week — as a continuous cycle of seven days — does not seem to equate to the definition of the week, AS IT WAS USED DURING THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA.”
Writing about his article, Dwyer asserts:
“This new research looks at the Sabbath calendar —
as it would have been known to a MAINSTREAM JEW LIVING IN THE SECOND TEMPLE ERA —
and it finds the Sabbath to have been a rather sophisticated interface with the lunar-solar system.
In this earlier time, the Sabbath Cycle — surprisingly — WAS DEFINED BY THE PHASES OF THE MOON,
and — even more surprising than this — the Sabbath Cycle also revolved into precise alignment with the annual circuit.”
“[Peter] inferred thus: ‘Neither worship as the Jews…[for] IF THE MOON IS NOT VISIBLE, they do not hold the SABBATH, which is called the first; nor do they hold the NEW MOON, nor the FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, nor the FEAST, nor the GREAT DAY’“ (The Stromata, or Miscellanies, chapter 5).
This clearly indicates that at this time the weekly Sabbath was still dictated by the moon’s course. And therefore, this would have been the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.
“In periods of SEVEN DAYS the MOON undergoes its changes. In the FIRST WEEK she becomes HALF MOON; in the SECOND [WEEK], FULL MOON; and in the THIRD [WEEK], in her wane, AGAIN HALF MOON; and in the FOURTH [WEEK] she DISAPPEARS.”
This is about as plain as it can get. Obviously, in Clement’s day, the week (as kept by the Jews) was still tied to the moon’s phases and, by extension, the weekly Sabbath was also still tied to the moon!
In the years following Clement of Alexandria’s time, an ominous change started to take place that was to radically change the Christian concept of the Sabbath. [In essence, they further moved away from the calendarMessiah Y’shua kept with His disciples.]
The Encyclopedia Biblica records: “This intimate connection between the week and the month was soon dissolved. It is certain that the week soon followed a development of its own, and it became the custom — without paying any regard to the days of the month (i.e. the lunar month) — …so that THE NEW MOON NO LONGER [PRECEDED] THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK” (The MacMillan Company, 1899. P. 5290). [In actuality, new moon immediately precedes the first day of the first week. In Hebrew Scripture, new moon day is neither a work day, nor a ShaBaT. It is a third category of day. See Ezekiel 46:1: Thus said the Master יהוה, “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east is shut the six days of work, but on the Sabbath it is opened, and on the day of the New Moon it is opened.”]
“The introduction…of the custom of celebrating the Sabbath every 7th day, IRRESPECTIVE OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE DAY TO THE MOON’S PHASES, led to a COMPLETE SEPARATION FROM THE ANCIENT VIEW OF THE SABBATH…”
That is a powerful statement!! That means the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept was the lunar calendar, which was the ancient view of the ShaBaT.
“This original Nazarene lunar-solar calendar [the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept and upheld and legitimized] was SUPPLANTED by a Roman “planetary week” and calendar in 135 C.E. — when the “Bishops of the Circumcision” (i.e. legitimate Nazarene successors to Y’shua) were displaced from Jerusalem. [Unbeknownst to most of us:] This began a three hundred year controversy concerning the TRUE CALENDAR AND CORRECT SABBATH.”
(Epiphanius, HE4, 6, 4).
“The groundwork for this SUPPLANTING of the true calendar began in Rome with a Bishop Sixtus (c.a. 116-c.a.126)….Sixtus was the first to celebrate a Sunday Easter in Rome instead of [passover on] the traditional Nisan 15 [full moon] date on the lunar calendar,” [the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept]
So, evil men, wielding political power and authority, through oppression and tyranny, separated believers from walking in the strength and power of the Word of YaHuWaH.
Let me pose a question, now…
“With the fall of the Nazarene headquarters…at Jerusalem, this new Roman calendar quickly spread throughout ‘Christendom.’ This NEW CALENDAR not only replaced yearly festival dates such as Passover, BUT IT ALSO REVAMPED THE CONCEPT OF THE WEEK AND ITS SEVENTH DAY.” [This was a drastic severing of the people from the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.]
“The early Christians had at first adopted the [Hebrew] seven-day week with its numbered weekdays… By the close of the third century A.D. this began to give way to the planetary week… In the fourth and fifth centuries the pagan designations became generally accepted in the western half of Christendom. [That means the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept was rejected by the western half of christendom by this time.] The use of the planetary names by Christians attests to the growing influence of astrological speculations introduced by converts from paganism” (Rest Days: A Study in Early Law and Morality. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1916. P. 220). The oldest dated Christian inscription to employ a planetary designation belongs to the year 269 A.D. (Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae, ed. De Rossi, 1861, i, No. 1).
“But what of Gentile Christians? Did this early break-off of true Nazarene[s]…also observe a Sabbath cycle?
“Early historical records clearly confirm that very early Gentile Christians also kept the same [lunar] Sabbath Calendar as the…Nazarenes. [According to Acts 24:5 Paul was known as a ringleader of the sect of the Natsarim (aka ‘Nazarenes’)]….
[By the way… Did you know it only takes one generation to lose what is sacred? Conversely, it also only takes one generation to restore what is sacred.]
“This practice was first changed by [Pope] Sixtus in 126 A.D. and later officially changed by a royal Roman decree from the emperor Constantine…. The author of Shawui Sabbath continues:
“Observance of the Sabbath day was made illegal and observance of a “Sunday” of a FIXED WEEK was made mandatory for all except farmers.”
[Isn’t it curious that farmers could keep the solar-lunar calendar….]
“Previous to this time the ROMAN SATURDAY was the FIRST DAY OF THE ROMAN WEEK.
“The veneration of the Sun in the second century A.D. began to pressure Roman culture to change the first day of their week FROM SATURNDAY TO SUNDAY. (Had the Jews been observing this same Roman calendar at this early date, as some maintain, then their seventh day Sabbath would have been on FRIDAY which was the traditional seventh day of this Roman calendar during the first century A.D.).”
The Calendar Messiah Y’shua Kept is not the pagan, papal Gregorian pope’s calendar, aligned with planetary bodies.
“The change from such [lunar] cycles to those UNCONNECTED WITH THE LUNATIONS would not have involved so abrupt and sudden a departure from the previous system of time reckoning as that from a bipartite division of the lunar month to a week which ran continuously through the months and the years” (Rest Days).
While the influence of Rome caused the early Christians [following the first and second centuries of the common era] to adopt a continuous seven-day week with the Sabbath on every seventh day, the Jews came under a more subtle influence.
Following the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the Palestinian Jews struggled hard to retain control of the sacred calendar.
“The calendar was originally fixed by observation, and ultimately by calculation. Up to the fall of the Temple (A.D. 70), witnesses who saw the new moon came forward and were strictly examined and if their evidence was accepted the month was fixed by the priests. Eventually the authority passed to the SANHEDRIN and ultimately to the PATRIARCH. When necessary, a second “Adar” was inserted in order that the reaping of the [barley] should come at Passover. Gradually observation gave place to calculation. [Man lost the knowledge of observing the moon to know when the ShaBaT was, though this is the calendar Messiah Y’shua kept.] The right to determine the calendar was reserved to the PATRIARCHATE; the JEWS OF MESOPOTAMIA tried in vain to establish their own calendar, but the prerogative of Palestine was zealously defended.”
“So long as Palestine remained a religious centre, it was naturally to the homeland that the Diaspora looked for its calendar. Uniformity was essential, for if different parts had celebrated feasts on different days confusion would have ensued. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE 4TH CENTURY A.D. THAT BABYLON FIXED THE CALENDAR…
“The Talmud speaks of various New Year’s Days. ….In Palestine the New Year [Rosh Hoshana, head of the year, beginning in the spring, the new moon closest to equinox] began in NISAN [month 1… see Exodus 12:2] (cf. Exod. xii. 2) and in BABYLON [it began] in TISHRI [month 7] (volume 4, article “Calendar”).
What is not realized by many is that control of the calendar implied ultimate POLITICAL AUTHORITY in Judaism [and everywhere else]. In other words, whoever controlled the calendar also controlled the destiny of the people — for good or for evil! [In YaHUWaH’s Word, when we step outside of the matrix of the Roman calendar and begin to seek YaHuWaH’s calendar (the same calendar Messiah Y’shua kept), we choose YaHuWaH to be our authority. It’s a very important way we must seek the ancient paths, return to the Father, and let Him restore all things.
“In the period after 70 C.E. [common era, aka a.d.], THE RABBIS ABROGATED THIS AUTHORITY TO THEMSELVES. [They seem to do that, a lot!!] In the story that appears in the Talmud, Rabbi Hananiah, an emigre Judean scholar, tried to assert the SUPREMACY OF BAYLONIAN JEWRY by asserting its right (that is, his own right while in Babylonia) to intercalate the calendar. His attempt was unsuccessful because it was SEVERAL CENTURIES TOO EARLY. This authority remained for some time with the rabbis in the land of Israel” (Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, p. 197).
All this BEGAN TO CHANGE IN THE THIRD CENTURY C.E. Ultimately the rabbis of Babylonia themselves cited, in retrospect, the return of one of their own, Rav (Abba), to Babylonia in 219 C.E., as the BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA in the relative status of the two great Jewish communities:
“We have made ourselves [or, consider ourselves] in Babylonia like Eretz Israel — from when Rav went down to Babylonia.” While this may seem to telescope a long drawn out process into one identifiable event, the fact is that the date designated in that statement indeed THE EARLY THIRD CENTURY, when Babylonia’s star began to rise (ibid., p. 262).
“While the control of the calendar remained in the hands of the Palestinian Jews it was inviolate; but when control passed to the Babylonian Jews events transpired that affected the calendar and the keeping of YHWH Almighty’s true Sabbath day.”
“As we enter the third century, we find that the Jews of Babylonia have at their head an EXILARCH (resh galuta, “HEAD OF THE DIASPORA”) with [false] claims to Dawidic [Dawid, aka ‘David’] lineage…But the exilarchate did not rule the Babylonian Jewish communities single-handedly. Alongside the exilarch a new framework of leadership — THE RABBIS OF BABYLON — emerged.”
“If the rabbis of Babylonia were PRUDENT in their relationship with the exilarch, they were EVEN MORE CAUTIOUS in defining and publicly stating their attitude toward the GOVERNMENT. As we have already noted, it is in Babylonia [not Palestine] that we encounter the well-formulated principle:
‘THE LAW OF THE GOVERNMENT IS LAW'”
(ibid., pp. 263-264).
Shanks brings out the fact that there were very marked differences in the ATTITUDE TOWARD GOVERNMENT and the preservation of Jewish religion and life between the Palestinian and Babylonian Jews.
During this time a major revival of the [ancient] Zoroastrian religion took place (226 A.D.) when the first Sassanian King, Ardeshir, came to the Persian throne. [This new king] made reforms to the old lunar-based calendar that had a far-reaching effect on his people (especially the Jews) who initially rejected his new calendar since it affected their religious observances. This resulted, for a while, in TWO CALENDARS, one decreed by the king and the other, older one, followed by the majority of the people in the Kingdom. Eventually, however, the new calendar won out and the Persians, as well as the Jews of Babylonia, began to organize their sabbaths according to the new solar calendar.
I found these on Zoroastrianism:
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/zoroasters-fourteen-stone-and-brass-pillars-of-wisdom
“…In Asia Minor most people kept the fourteenth day of the moon, DISREGARDING THE SABBATH: yet they never separated from those who did otherwise, until Victor, bishop of Rome, influenced by too ardent a zeal, fulminated a sentence of excommunication against the Quartodecimans in Asia….”
What’s A Quartodeciman, You May Ask?…(I Asked…)
“Wherefore also Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in France, severely censured Victor by letter for his immoderate heat; telling him that although the ancients differed in their celebration of Easter [Passover], they did not desist from intercommunion. Also that Polycarp [a disciple of John the Immerser], bishop of Smyrna, who afterwards suffered martyrdom under Gordian, continued to communicate with Anicetus bishop of Rome, although he himself, according to the usage of his native Smyrna, kept [Passover] on the fourteenth day of the moon, as Eusebius attests in the fifth book of his Ecclesiastical History.
“While therefore some in Asia Minor observed the day above-mentioned, OTHERS IN THE EAST KEPT THAT FEAST ON THE SABBATH INDEED, but differed as regards the month. THE FORMER [those in Asia Minor] THOUGHT THE JEWS SHOULD BE FOLLOWED, THOUGH THEY WERE NOT EXACT: the latter kept Easter [Passover] after the equinox, REFUSING TO CELEBRATE WITH THE JEWS; “for,” said they, “it ought to be celebrated when the sun is in Aries, in the month called Xanthicus by the Antiochians, and April by the Romans.” In this practice, they averred, THEY CONFORMED NOT TO THE MODERN JEWS, WHO ARE MISTAKEN IN ALMOST EVERYTHING, BUT TO THE ANCIENTS, and to JOSEPHUS according to what he has written in the third book of his Jewish Antiquities. Thus these people were at issue among themselves. But all the other Christians in the Western parts, and as far as the ocean itself, are found to have celebrated Easter [passover?] after the equinox, from a very ancient tradition (book 5, chapter 22).
[Technically, the year according to YaHuWaH’s calendar begins with the new moon closest to the equinox. It is also an issue of the barley being ABiYB/early ears. The barley must be ready to be harvested by the first day of the week after Passover (day 16 of the month). By the new moon closest to the equinox (whether before or after the equinox), the barley will be ABiYB, and ready to be harvested two weeks later.]
Notice here that the early Christians were SHARPLY DIVIDED over the correct date for Passover. Two ideas prevailed in two different groups: (1) That Passover should be observed on the 14th day of the moon while disregarding the lunar weekly Sabbath cycle. (This belief was based upon the premise that “the Jews should be followed.”)
However, this idea was vigorously contested by (2), “Others in the East [who] kept that feast ON THE SABBATH indeed, but differed as regards the [use of a calendar based exclusively upon the whole moon] or month.”
“Based upon the Eastern practice,” notes James Dwyer, “it was believed that the then Jews WERE NOT IN COMPLETE ADHERANCE WITH MORE ANCIENT JEWISH PRACTICES” (A New Look at the Christian Sabbath).
“Essentially,” continues Dwyer, “one group adhered to the practice of current Jews (which was the determination of Passover by the 14th day of the Moon, and by a strictly lunar-based calendar). The other group adhered to a more ancient Jewish determination which computed the date of Passover, according to the SABBATH CALENDAR (the same as the ancient Chodesh Cycle — or fixed weeks plus renewal [or new moon] days” (ibid.).
This passage from Socrates Scholasticus clearly shows the Jews had gone astray by the early 5th century and were no longer keeping the weekly Sabbath cycle (which was in tune with the moon’s phases) as ordained by YHWH Almighty in Exodus 16. The fact that “others in the East kept that feast [Passover] on the sabbath” indicates that this group was still keeping YHWH’s lunar weekly Sabbath calendar. Under this calendar the first high day (the 15th, not the passover meal on the evening of the 14th) of Passover ALWAYS fell on a weekly Sabbath (the 15th of Nisan) [the passover meal is on the night before, on the evening of the 14th, per Leviticus 23:5. The 15th is both a high ShaBaT and the weekly ShaBaT].
“…An old and still common theory derives the Sabbath institution from the worship of SATURN after which planet the first day of the astrological week [Saturday] received its designation.
“The theory is untenable for more than one reason. In the first place, the Hebrews did not name their weekdays after the planets, but indicated them by ordinal numbers. Secondly, SATURN’S DAY [SATURDAY] BEGAN THE PLANETARY WEEK, while the Jewish Sabbath was regarded as the LAST DAY of the seven, a suitable position for a rest day. And in the third place, neither the Hebrews nor any other Oriental [CiYNaiY people (Sinai)] people ever worshipped the planet Saturn as a [deity] and OBSERVED HIS DAY AS A FESTIVAL.” (Ibid., p. 243).
“These imported superstitions [from Babylon] eventually led Jewish rabbis to call Saturn SHABBTI, “the STAR OF THE SABBATH,” [and]…it was not until [after]the first century of our era, when the planetary week had become an established institution, THAT THE JEWISH SABBATH SEEMS ALWAYS TO HAVE CORRESPONDED TO SATURN’S DAY [SATURDAY]” (ibid., p. 244).
[World’s Last Chance video series, “In Defense of the Lunar Sabbath,” (I’ll leave a link at the bottom of this post) shares a secret about Chiun. Webster’s defines this as the deity ‘saturn’. Chiun is mentioned in Amos 5:26:]
1Hear this word which I take up against you, this lamentation, O house of Yisra’ĕl:
2The maiden of Yisra’ĕl has fallen, not to rise again. She lies forsaken on her land, with no one to lift her up.
3For thus said the Master יהוה, “The city that goes out by a thousand has a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred has ten left to the house of Yisra’ĕl.”
4For thus said יהוה to the house of Yisra’ĕl, “Seek Me and live,
5but do not seek Bĕyth Ěl, nor enter Gilgal, nor pass over to Be’ĕrsheḇa. For Gilgal shall certainly go into exile, and Bĕyth Ěl become a non-entity.
6“Seek יהוה and live, lest He break out like fire upon the house of Yosĕph, and shall consume it, with no one to quench it in Bĕyth Ěl.
7“O you who are turning right-ruling to wormwood, and have cast down righteousness to the earth!”
8He who made Kimah and Kesil, and who turns the shadow of death into morning and darkened day into night, who is calling for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth – יהוה is His Name –
9who is flashing forth destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the stronghold.
10They hated the one who reproves in the gate, and they despise the one who speaks the truth.
11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take grain taxes from him – you have built houses of hewn stone but you are not going to dwell in them, you have planted pleasant vineyards but not drink wine from them.
12For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, afflicting the righteous and accepting bribes, and turning aside the poor at the gate.
13Therefore the wise keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time.
14Seek good and not evil, so that you live. And let יהוה Elohim of hosts be with you, as you have spoken.
15Hate evil and love good, and set up right-ruling in the gate. It might be that יהוה Elohim of hosts shows favour to the remnant of Yosĕph.
16Therefore יהוה Elohim of hosts, יהוה, said this, “There is wailing in all open squares, and in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ and shall call the farmer to mourning, and skilled lamenters to wailing.
17“And in all vineyards there is wailing, for I pass through your midst,” said יהוה.
18Woe to you who are longing for the day of יהוה! What does the day of יהוה mean to you? It is darkness, and not light,
19as when a man flees from a lion, and a bear shall meet him; or entered his house, rested his hand on the wall, and a serpent shall bite him.
20Is not the day of יהוה darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
21“I have hated, I have despised your festivals, and I am not pleased with your assemblies.
22“Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I do not accept them, nor do I look on your fattened peace offerings.
23“Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I do not hear the sound of your stringed instruments.
24“And let right-ruling roll on like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25“You brought Me slaughterings and meal offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Yisra’ĕl,
26but you took up Sikkuth your sovereign and Kiyyun, your idols, your astral mighty ones, which you made for yourselves!
27“Therefore I shall send you into exile beyond Damascus,” said יהוה Elohim of hosts – His Name.
“The association of the Sabbath Day with Saturday,” explains Webster, “was probably one reason why Saturn, a planet in Babylonian astrological schemes regarded as beneficent rather than malefic, should have come to assume in late classical times the role of an unlucky star (sidus tristissimum, stella iniquissima)…Dio Cassius [Roman historian born 155 A.D., died after 230 A.D.] also speaks of the Jews having DEDICATED TO THEIR MIGHTY ONE THE DAY CALLED THE DAY OF SATURN [SATURDAY], ‘on which, among many other most peculiar actions, they undertake no serious occupation’…Tacitus [another Roman historian] (Historiae, V, 4) thinks that the Jewish Sabbath may be an observance in honour of Saturn…” (Rest Days, p. 244-245).
With the development of the importance of the Sabbath as a day of consecration and the emphasis laid upon the significant number seven, the week became more and more DIVORCED FROM ITS LUNAR CONNECTION...”(volume 10, 1943. Article, “Week,” p. 482).
“The establishment of a periodic week ending in a Sabbath observed every seventh day was doubtless responsible for the gradual obsolescence of the NEW MOON FESTIVAL AS A PERIOD OF GENERAL ABSTINENCE, since with continuous weeks the new-moon day and the Sabbath Day would from time to time coincide” (ibid., p. 255). In the calendar the disciples of Y’shua kept, if the testimonies are true and valid, and therefore the same calendar Messiah Y’shua kept, the ShaBaTs and new moons never overlap.
However, in the Diaspora, the New Moon came to occupy a secondary position in contrast to the Sabbath; the prohibition against work and the carrying on of commerce was LIFTED, and the New Moon, although still celebrated by means of increased offerings, soon was reduced to the rank of a minor of half holiday. Its importance was confined to the fact that it remained of great value and necessity for the fixing of the festivals (volume 8, p. 171. Article “New Moon”).
“The Jewish and astrological weeks evolved quite independently of one another. However, given the coincidence of their identical length, it was only a matter of time before some permanent correspondence between particular Jewish days and particular planetary days would be made.”
A PERMANENT CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE SABBATH AND “THE DAY OF SATURN” WAS THUS ESTABLISHED…
“[Some time] later than the first century of the present era, Jews EVEN CAME TO NAME THE PLANET SATURN SHABTAI, AFTER THE ORIGINAL HEBREW NAME OF THE SABBATH, SHABAT. Moreover, as they came into closer contact with Hellenism, their conception of their [sanctified] day was evidently AFFECTED BY THE ASTROLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF SATURN AS A PLANET that has an overwhelming negative influence (a conception which, incidentally, is still evident even from the association of the English word “saturnine” with a gloomy disposition).
“There are traditional Jewish superstitious beliefs about demons and evil spirits that hold full sway on the Sabbath, and an old Jewish legend even links the choice of “the day of Saturn” as the official Jewish rest day with the superstition that it would be an inauspicious day for doing any work anyway!” (New York: The Free Press, 1985. P. 17).
Respectfully submitted,
Troy Miller
John 7:37-John 9:14 tells the story that takes place at the time of the Feast of Booths, or feast of Tabernacles, CuWKoWT (‘Sukkot’). (John 7:2 says this was the feast of Tabernacles.). CuWKoWT takes place, according to Leviticus 23:34-36, for seven days in the seventh month, beginning on day 15. 15-16-17-18-19-20-21. We can all be in agreement, hopefully, that a festival that begins on day 15 and lasts for seven days will have the 21st as its last day of the seven days.
According to John 7:37, Yahushua spoke during the last great day. Again, this last great day occurs on the 21st day of the seventh month.
John 7:43-53 tells us the people and the religious authorities contended greatly, after which everyone went to his own house.
John 8:1: Yahushua went to the Mount of Olives.
John 8:2 reveals: The next day (the 22nd of the month, see Lev. 23:36, called the 8th day, also known as SheMiYNiY ‘ATzaReTh), Yahushua returned to the temple. Why? It was ShaBaT and it was the 8th day (SheMeNiY ATzaReTh). https://biblehub.com/interlinear/leviticus/23-36.htm
There, at the temple, after Yahushua told the adulterous woman to go and sin no more, another lengthy debate took place.
In John 8:23, Y’shua says to the Pharisees: You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.
They respond, later, to Him (in 8:33): We are the seed of ABRaHaM, and have been servants to no one at any time… [Yahushua showed them for who they were. They were imposters. These were Edomites that had already crept into the assembly.
8:31-47 Yahushua says this:
John 9:1-7 reveals the account of Yahushua healing a blind man.
Verse 14 discloses the fact it was a ShaBaT. We also know, from verses in chapters 7 and 8, this was the day after the last day of the feast of CuWKoWT. The feast of CuWKoWT begins on a weekly ShaBaT/seventh day of the week, which also happens to be a High ShaBaT. Eight days later falls on the next ShaBaT. So, the two ShaBaToT (on days 15 and 22) are bookends on this feast. (The same thing happens in the first month, where the feast of unleavened bread has two ShaBaToT on either end of the feast.
This day following the last great day of the feast of CuWKoWT is called SheMiYNiY ‘ATzaReTh, the 8th day assembly. It also was the 22nd day of the month (15+7=22), and the normal weekly ShaBaT. The feast just completed began on one ShaBaT, then went through the whole next week through the preparation day that precedes the next ShaBaT. And then, is followed by the 8th day, the next ShaBaT. It is the 22nd day of the month, the seventh day of the week, but it is eight days after the day the feast of booths began.
For more on the mystery of SheMiYNiY ‘ATzaReTh, please see Eric Bissell’s teaching:
The “Eighth Day,” a Hebrew idiom, means the weekly ShaBaT in many instances in Scripture.
Just as the seventh day means the ShaBaT, the eighth day every month is also a ShaBaT that is 8 days from New Moon Day. Eight days from any new moon day is a ShaBaT, just as within one month, every eight days takes us from one ShaBaT to another.
So again, CuWKoWT is a seven-day feast beginning on the 15th of the 7th month. The 15th of every month is ShaBaT. But, this 15th on the 7th month is called a High ShaBaT. The “8th day” is the 22nd of the month, and it was the normal day for ShaBaT, every month. Yahushua, His disciples and all of Israel observed this ShaBaT, not as part of the seventh day feast, but as the EIGHTH day.
John 9:14 proves that the 22nd day of the 7th month was and is the weekly ShaBaT, not an annual ShaBaT. The 15th of the 7th month was an annual ShaBaT (or high ShaBaT), but also the 15th day is always the weekly ShaBaT. The 22nd is always the weekly ShaBaT. And, it happens that way every year. That doesn’t happen on a Gregorian calendar.
The fact that the 15th and the 22nd are always ShaBaToT (‘Shabats’/’sabbaths’) every month means, by default, the 8th day of the month (7 days after new moon day) and the 29th day of the month are also ShaBaToT every month. When you count from the 15th through the 22nd, there will be eight days inclusive.
It’s also important to notice that between the 15th and the 22nd, there is no ShaBaT between these two ShaBaTs of the first month feast of unleavened bread, or at the feast of booths/CuWKoWTh. Why? Because ShaBaT is the day of rest every seventh day of EVERY week.
When people come to understand and keep YaHuWaH’s calendar, and they are keeping the feasts on YaHuWaH’s calendar, they often say, “This is the first time I’ve kept the feasts where there wasn’t a weekly sabbath in the middle of it.” And, this is true. If you want to check out this fact, go to Leviticus 23 and find a place where it says there’s a sabbath somewhere in the middle of the feast of unleavened bread or the feast of booths (CuWKoWTh). Instead, you’ll find there’s a ShaBaT at the beginning, and there’s a ShaBaT at the end, like a beginning festival and a closing festival.
Here’s an anchor for you. Begin watching, observing, guarding, and keeping the Creator’s calendar, and you won’t have to float around on the ocean of confusion ever again.
You will then, and only then, find your ShaBaToT and feast days are aligned in harmony with the established patten of the Creator. Then, you will never need to filter His sanctified days of appointment through the pagan papal Gregorian solar-only calendar, again.
Respectfully utilized and added to the original writing of Troy Miller, to share his excellent work, which you can find his portion of this material and far more evidence, and defenses at http://creationcalendar.com.
Darla Wright
For further restoration, I invite you to check out this link on our website:
If you have appreciated this study and sharing by those the Father has led to seek after the truth on these things, and to help facilitate restoration for His lost sheep, I want to recommend a few videos for you to see.
Identity Crisis by James Staley:
The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel, Where They Went and What They Are Now Called, by Joseph Dumond. I do not believe he has a good understanding on the calendar, but his research of historical facts is wonderful. Please continue past the James Staley scriptural study to this historical study of Joseph Dumond:
When Does The Day Begin?, I have a link to part 1. You will have to look for each successive part. I believe there are 5:
Here’s the link to part 1 of Lunar Sabbath Proof, by Troy Miller. You can follow your way through parts 2, and 3 from there:
World’s Last Chance video series, “In Defense of the Lunar Sabbath”:
May YaHuWaH restore all knowledge we lost. Study to show yourself approved.
I leave you with some images, food for thought.
Some have said it is impossible to keep this calendar of YaHuWaH’s YaHuWaH makes all things possible. Start your own business. Move yourself to the country and begin to farm. Do consultant work. Work from home. There are options. The Father will bring about His will if you will trust Him.
